by Randy Dyess
“Understood,” Captain Moore said. He knew he couldn’t make the sweep go faster, and he would have to be patient now that the ship was partially functioning and the crew was out of danger.
It took another three hours for the laser system to make a full scan around the Castle. Lt. Jones was starting to get nervous, thinking it wouldn’t work and they would be trapped in the Redrars system when she heard a small ping. “Captain, I think I have something!” Lt. Jones shouted. “I'm getting a small echo at one hundred and eighty-five down and four degrees starboard.”
“Can you make a connection?” Captain Moore asked.
“Yes, sir,” she replied without looking up. It took another five minutes before the ship’s laser made a solid connection with a comm relay. “Got it. You were right, Captain: we’re in the Redrars system and only a few hundred thousand kilometers from the comm relay.”
The entire bridge sighed in relief at the news. Being this close to a comm relay meant they had a good chance of contacting an incoming freighter. “Sara, I can’t tell you how much this means to us all. Why don’t you announce the results of your work? I’m sure the rest of the crew will be as happy as we are,” Captain Moore said as he smiled.
*****
Senator Williams looked over the group. This was his committee and these were his people. He had spent two decades assembling the small group of senators before him; they controlled thousands of Senate Intelligence agents in order to gain power over most of the human race. Tonight, they would need to use that power to help protect their worlds from disaster.
He stood and knocked on the wood of the table before him. The group of extremely wealthy and powerful men and women immediately stopped talking amongst themselves and pivoted toward Senator Williams. He loved the power he had over these people and, therefore, over the entire human race.
“Let’s get this meeting to order,” he said. “We have several things we need to discuss tonight.”
“I second the motion to have the meeting come to order,” Senator Carter Farrington III responded.
Senator Williams hated Farrington and the fact that the fussy man always wanted to follow ancient meeting rules. He needed the power the man’s corporation held to control several of the outer-core sectors, though. To placate him, Williams spent the next few minutes formally opening the meeting. He never saw why it mattered—no meeting notes were ever taken, as no outsider could ever know what went on in these meetings.
“Now that we have that out of the way,” Senator Williams stared at Senator Farrington, “I want to report on the situation out on the outer rims. The enemy has attacked Candus, just like I predicted. One of our agents was on the planet and recorded the attack.”
“Augustus,” Senator Elaine Izzard-Crew said. Williams allowed her to address him informally—he needed her business connections if he was going to profit from the spider attacks. “Did our new equipment work?”
“Unfortunately, Elaine, it didn’t. The agent reported that the EMP destroyed his equipment and the equipment of a marine assault team I had scheduled to conduct a drill during the predicted attack window. The marines were equipped with our latest weapons, and all of their equipment went offline.”
A murmur went around the room. The group of senators was getting nervous about the series of attacks and their inability to stop or slow them. If the spiders continued on the projected path, it wouldn’t be long before they attacked a planet that mattered. Some of the men and women in this room would lose billions. Although each of them were trillionaires many times over, none of them wanted to lose any amount of money if there was anything they could do to prevent it.
“Our agent did manage to record the event,” Senator Williams continued. He needed to have the committee refocus on the attack and not on some future monetary loss. “I’m sure our lab will be able to review the recorded data and come up with better defenses. Until then, I’ve dispatched another team to Chaovis, which we think is the next planet to be attacked. We have another round of weapons for them to experiment with.”
“How can you be sure?” Senator Farrington interrupted.
I really need to arrange for this idiot to have an accident—I’m getting tired of him thinking he’s an equal member here, Williams thought. “My people have analyzed the data. We were able to predict the attack on Candus down to a window of a few days. I think the possibility of being right about Chaovis is quite high.” And shut up, or I’m going to shut you up.
“Very good. Continue, please.”
Calm down and count to ten, Senator Williams told himself. “As I was trying to say, the new team is going to test some new weapons. Hopefully, they will be able to have a positive effect on our ability to defend ourselves against these monsters.”
“I thought you couldn’t protect our equipment against their EMP?” Senator Rothschild said.
As old and powerful as his family was, Rothschild could interrupt Williams whenever he wanted. “The new weapons are actually designed from centuries-old schematics. They are simple kinetic weapons that use chemicals to propel a metal round. They have no electronics in them, so they should be safe from the EMP.”
“These simple weapons will be effective?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked.
“Yes, Elaine, they should be. One of the marines and one civilian on Candus were able to kill spiders with simple swords. Apparently, the spiders have no defensive capabilities other than their size and speed. Based on the description our agent provided, we think these ancient, kinetic weapons will be quite effective.”
"What are you going to do about the survivors?" another senator asked.
"Leave them on the planet, which I've quarantined. No one goes in or out," Senator Williams replied.
"Will that keep a lid on this situation?"
“It should, although we have a slight issue with containment. A small security vessel from an outer-rim shipping company landed on the planet against orders from Candus Security. We believe they may have made contact with a small group of survivors. A marine sergeant major was among the survivors, as well as the civilian who managed to kill one of the spiders. Our agent is monitoring the situation and will report in a few hours.”
“Never heard of them,” Senator Farrington said after looking at his notes.
“Neither have I,” Williams added. “I’m having my assistant send you everything we have on them.”
“Augustus, what are your plans?” Izzard-Crew asked.
“This company doesn’t have a senate seat or any direct connections to any of our supporters,” Senator Williams replied. “I’ve made arrangements to silence the ship’s crew. I think this is the best course of action.” Most of the others nodded in agreement, not that it would matter since he had already instructed his agent to implement the plan.
"What about Candus Corporation and Peterson Mining?" Izzard-Crew asked. “They’re too large to silence, and they’re losing billions from not being able to restart their operations.”
"Good point. I have an idea about Candus and Peterson that I wanted to run by this group." He had to give the appearance that their opinions mattered, but he could manipulate the committee into thinking they had come up with whatever plan he’d already created. “I think we can buy them off. Our survey teams have found a few new planets away from the projected path of the spider attacks and they should be very profitable. I’m going to offer the mining contracts to Peterson and the planets to Candus.”
“That might work with Clayton Peterson,” Senator Izzard-Crew replied, “but Henry Candus may not go for the deal. He has a lot of money invested in those sectors and it would cost more than he would like to bring several new planets up and running while he’s taking a loss.”
“I know Henry quite well,” Senator Thompson called out. “I will talk to him about what it would take for him to abandon the outer-rim. I think I know what will work with him.”
“What would that be?” Senator Williams asked.
“Henry craves
a seat on the senate and a chance to build a new headquarters on a core world. Let’s offer him a license for the new building on one of the major inner core planets.”
“What about the senate seat?” Farrington asked. “We can’t just have anyone hold a senate seat. Is this Henry Candus worthy?”
More than you, Thompson thought. He and Williams often discussed Farrington and both of them thought he needed to go. “He’s worthy. Senator Groom is getting old and has no heirs; we can grab his seat for Henry. It would give us another ally on the judiciary committee.”
“Good idea,” Senator Williams responded. “Meet with Henry and make the offer. If he agrees, I’ll have Senator Groom taken care of.”
“I can speak to Peterson,” Senator McClain said. “Mining is all he’s interested in, so the new contracts would be enough. Most of his claims in the sectors being attacked were played out, anyway. He’d jump at grabbing new territory.”
“We all agree, then?” Senator Williams asked. The group nodded their agreement.
“Augustus, what if you can’t silence this shipping company?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked.
“My information states that they want to expand into other sectors and into mining. All their applications are in sectors we think the spiders will raid, so even if we approve their applications, we lose nothing. No one who matters is still in business out there.”
“I agree,” she said as the others also nodded.
“Any other points of discussion?” Senator Williams asked. “If not, I propose we meet again in five days to discuss our progress.” He watched as several members stood to leave. They had long trips back to their headquarters and it was getting late. “Elaine, Jonathan, why don’t we go back to my office for a drink? I have this new Brunian brandy that just came in.”
Chapter 3
No one paid attention to the small freighter exiting the FTL endpoint. Even if they did, they would have ignored it, anyway, as it was just another independent freighter owner trying to make a living. Juscora was full of independents, and people on the planet were used to a large variety of freighters coming and going. Juscora was also full of pirates.
“Juscora Control to freighter exiting Juscora endpoint X890, state your business,” came the voice out of the Secretum Agens’ comm system.
Sabbas Wayne, more commonly known as Agent Smith, smiled. Over three decades ago, he had named his small freighter after his own job working for the Senate Intelligence Agency as a secret agent. No one ever figured out that the name meant “secret agent” in an old Earth language called Latin.
“Secretum Agens to Juscora Control, code romeroalpha-235,” Agent Smith replied, knowing the control agent would expect a small tip to look the other way after hearing that this entry would have to go unrecorded.
Juscora was a small, backwater planet, but it was home to a few bureaucrats living beside hundreds of pirates, outlaws, and those doing business with the outcasts of human civilization. Agent Smith had lived for over twenty years on Juscora during his undercover days and he knew the planet inside-out. Giving a small tip to the unpaid bureaucrats would allow him to do almost anything he wanted to without government oversight.
“Juscora Control to Secretum Agens,” the control agent responded, “be advised that all patterns are full at this time. Report to holding area Z87 and wait for further instructions.”
“Copy, Juscora Control,” Agent Smith said. The pattern would free up as soon as the control agent was able to verify the small increase in his bank account. It didn’t matter, though, because the man Agent Smith needed to see wouldn’t be available until later in the evening. He could use the time to think about his mission.
He leaned back in his chair, put his feet up on the dash of his small freighter, and thought about the man he had come to see. Captain Franco Zora was a pirate—and a good one, at that. He had managed to live twice as long as the average person in his profession and had never once been taken prisoner by a security force. Other pirate captains jumped at the chance to be on one of Zora’s raids because they knew they would be highly profitable and safe.
The man knew the best ships to attack and where security vessels would be at the time of the attacks. Unlike other successful pirates, however, Captain Zora chose to remain unknown. He never called himself King or Admiral, and he did nothing to draw attention to himself.
The authorities outside of Juscora never suspected he was a pirate captain, and for over five decades, thought he was a small, independent freighter owner making runs between core and rim planets. Agent Smith knew better, though. He knew what allowed Captain Zora to hide from the authorities for over fifty years: The man was on the Senate Intelligence Agency’s payroll. He had been working with Agent Smith for over thirty years.
The more Smith thought about Captain Zora and the reason he had to come to Juscora, the angrier he became. All these years of service and Senator Williams would have Captain Zora killed, just like that. The man had helped the senator for decades to run his criminal empire. Maybe that’s it, Agent Smith thought. He doesn’t care about the outcome of the attack—he’s just using it to get rid of someone who knows about his real activities.
Senator Augustus Williams was a fraud. While his family was one of the wealthiest on Earth, he wasn’t part of the recognized family business. Instead, he had inherited the unspoken part of their business, which no one outside the family knew about.
Williams was the largest crime boss in the entire human territory and controlled thousands of illegal operations on hundreds of planets. Through his agents, he had built files on the activities of countless rich and famous. Billions of tax-free credits flowed through Senator Williams’ hands every year, and he couldn’t have been happier. He was considered the most powerful man alive, and that was leaving out the vast crime operations he ran.
His dad was still living and in charge of the Williams empire, but that didn’t mean much to Augustus. The real family money had come from his illegal and illegitimate operations. His two older brothers and one older sister were poised to take over the openly-known pieces of the family business, but none of them would ever have the power he had. The seat he’d blackmailed his way into had given him control over the Senate Intelligence Agency—an agency he hadn’t hesitated to fill with his own men and women and use to achieve his own business goals.
I’ll be next, Agent Smith thought. He knew Senator Williams wanted to build an empire outside of his family’s control—he knew all of the man’s secrets. Williams was positioning himself to take over all the rim worlds, once the alien spiders stopped their attacks. Smith had seen the plans for the reconstruction of the planets, and he knew trillions of dollars would flow through companies controlled by the senator. If they could stop the spiders from wiping out everyone, he would gain control over hundreds of planets and trillions of people. Sabbas Wayne had a gut feeling that soon Senator Williams would be Emperor Williams and he wanted no part of it.
I’ve got to warn Zora about what’s happening, Sabbas thought as Jascora Control released his holding pattern and assigned him a flight path to the planet below.
*****
If a holo-vid maker needed a bar for a location in a pirate vid, the Back End Bar would have been perfect. In hardscrabble part of the almost lawless city of Freedom on a back world, outer rim planet called Juscora, this bar served as a meeting place for those in need of privacy for their dealings. Agent Smith had been coming here for over thirty years and trusted the owners to maintain their customers’ privacy.
He was one hour early, which was what he liked. He knew the captain would be early, and it had become a game to them to time their arrival just before the other. There was a fine line between being way too early and having to wait on the other and getting there in just enough time to find a table.
Out of habit, Agent Smith looked around. It had been a long time since he’d been undercover, but old habits die hard. Captain Zora had been working with Agent Smith from the beginni
ng. Despite the man’s pirate status, he wasn’t a bad person. No, Zora had just made a choice between piracy and spending his life working on some corporate farm or manufacturing site and dying without ever seeing anything outside of whatever small-time planet he lived on.
Let’s get this over with, Agent Smith thought to himself as he opened the battered door and walked into the dark.
The place hadn't changed in over three decades. The same rough-looking bartender was behind the bar; Agent Smith walked over and threw a hundred-credit chip on the counter. “I brought my own bottle and glasses. We’ll be in the corner—make sure no one bothers us,” he said to the old man. The bartender snatched up the chip and nodded. A hundred-credit chip wasn’t much on a core world, but out here, it would guarantee hours of privacy.
Sure that he would not be disturbed, Smith walked to the farthest booth and placed the bottle of Brunian brandy and two glasses on the table. Sitting in the booth with his back to the wall, he opened the very expensive bottle and leaned back to where he could see the entire bar.
Captain Franco Zora thought he was early, but he’d forgotten how Sabbas Wayne operated. He walked in and looked at the old bartender, who nodded toward the back of the room. As Zora went to the booth, the room filled with loud, electronic music—loud enough to drown out the men’s conversation while providing the frequencies needed to counteract most listening devices.
“Franco,” Agent Smith said to the man as he stopped and stood in front of the booth.
“Sabbas.” Both men stared at each other. There was always a tense moment or two when they got together. Captain Zora never knew whether his old friend had been ordered to capture him or kill him and Agent Smith never knew if the captain had succumbed to a reward from other pirate captains for a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Agency.